Foreign businesses attempt to share Vietnam’s e-commerce “pie”

VietNamNet Bridge – Foreign companies that have entered Vietnam to do e-commerce have many plans and they are waiting for suitable moments to conquer the market.

With over 20 million Internet users, most of them youth, Vietnam has emerged as an attractive destination for foreign e-commerce service providers.

eBay, a famous online shopping network, entered Vietnam last June through its cooperation with chodientu.com. This event marked a turning point when online shopping in Vietnam connected with eBay’s international system.

Yahoo! and Google have provided some specialized services for Vietnamese people. Yahoo! has opened Yahoo! Vietnam Co., Ltd. after over two years operating in Vietnam through a representative office.

Alibaba, the world’s leading business to business (B2B) e-commerce floor, has joined hands with Vinalink. Accordingly, Vinalink has the right to provide Alibaba services on its websites.

“Vietnam has many favourable opportunities to develop e-commerce,” said Vu Minh Tri, Director of Yahoo! Vietnam. Tri analyzed that developed countries have electronic payment systems so it is easy to develop e-commerce. However, the number of Internet users in these countries hasn’t increased in the past several years.

“Foreign businesses will invest in Vietnam through cooperation with potential local partners,” said Nguyen Hoa Binh, the representative of eBay in Vietnam. He anticipated that foreign firms will not do e-commerce themselves in Vietnam because they are afraid of risks.

“Yahoo! will seek a Vietnamese partner because this business mode is the most appropriate at present,” Tri said.

It is also very important for foreign investors to choose products for e-commerce in Vietnam. In a country like Vietnam, consumers can buy everything on the street and it is really difficult for online delivery.

E-commerce is developing in Vietnam but the legal corridor is still a problem for e-commerce. Vietnam still lacks laws on e-commerce, for instance regulations to control taxes on online transactions, the border between online service providers at home and abroad and the verification of prestige of companies doing online business.

“The core for developing e-commerce is changing awareness, man, and policy,” said the Vice chief of the E-commerce and IT Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Tran Huu Linh.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s report on Vietnam’s e-commerce in 2008, of 1,600 surveyed companies, 75% had over 5% of their total revenue come from e-commerce.

There are 49 schools offering e-commerce training courses but they are not assisted by state agencies. Most of the schools don’t have relationships with companies, which need e-commerce personnel.

The Vietnamese government plans to put all public administrative services online in the 2006-2010 period. The Ministry of Industry and Trade provided the electronic origin certificate granting service (eCoSys) online in 2008.

E-commerce models like B2B (business to business), B2C (business to customers), and C2C (customers to customers are expanding in Vietnam.

Source: http://english.vietnamnet.vn/